HVDC future in Pakistan

Name: Anjum Aziz

Roll No: 01
Designation: Chief Engineer (HVDC) NTDC
Course Supervisor: Dr. Engr. Rana Abdul Jabbar Khan
Course Coordinator: Engr. Muhammad Iqbal Haider
 Background
In order to bridge the gap between Supply & Demand, need of
updating the generation plan and its evacuation through viable
transmission expansion plan was explored.
84,000MW was forecasted as NTDC/PEPCO demand in year 2030.
National Power System Expansion Plan 2011-2030 (By SNC-Lavalin)
requires development of Thar Coal field for generating 40,000 MW
HVDC was conceived for bulk transmission from Thar to Mid Country
on ±500 kV. It was 2400 MW, 1,000 km long from Jamshoro to
Lahore
 List of Coal Based Power Projects (April, 2016)
Sr. No. Project Name Capacity (MW) Location Category COD
IMPORTED COAL

1 Port Qasim Coal Project 1,320 Port Qasim, Karachi, Sindh CPEC 30th June 2018

2 Sahiwal Coal Power Project 1,320 Qadarabad, Sahiwal CPEC 25th Dec 2017

3 HUBCO Coal based Power Project 1,320 Hub, Balochistan CPEC Mar-2020

4 Grange Power Project 150 Arifwala, Non-CPEC Jan-2019

5 Lucky Coal Power Project 660 Port Qasim, Karachi, Sindh Non-CPEC Dec-2020

6 Siddiqsons Coal Power Project 350 Port Qasim, Karachi, Sindh Non-CPEC Oct-2020

TOTAL (IMPORTED COAL) 5,120

THAR / LOCAL COAL

7 Engro Thar Coal Power Project 660 Thar Block - II, Sindh CPEC 3rd June 2019

8 Shanghai Electric Coal Power Project 1,320 Thar Block - I, Sindh CPEC Aug-2020

9 HUB Power Project Thar Block-II 330 Thar Block - II, Sindh CPEC Jan-2020

10 Thal NOVA Power Project, Thar Block-II 330 Thar Block - II, Sindh CPEC Jan-2020

11 Oracle Coal Power Project 1320 Thar Block-VI, Sindh CPEC Mar-2021

TOTAL (THAR / LOCAL COAL) 3,960

GRAND TOTAL 9,080 Issued by PPIB

Major Additions Of Power plants between 2017 to 2020
proposed in NPSEP (Total Thar = 13,200 MW)

OFFICE OF GENERAL MANAGER (POWER SYSTEM PLANNING), NTDC

PAEC Nuclear
Expansion
Program
HVAC Limitations
 When to Use HVDC
• Long Distance
• Long Underground/Submarine Cables
• Asynchronous Systems (stability issues)
• Controlled Power Transfer
• Reduce Right‐of‐Way
 NTDC Network Characteristics
 Maximum Load is connected in the middle of country where local
generation potential is limited due to lack of fossil fuel and meagre
hydro potential
 Expansion plan shows most of Hydro is located in North whereas
major thermal plants based on indigenous resource in south
 During high water months power will flow from North to South.

 Whereas in low water months thermal power in South will run to

maximum and flow will be reversed.
 Long HVAC or HVDC lines are required to pump power to mid-country
where load is concentrated (Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot & Multan).
NTDC Network Characteristics (Cont.)
 With in-significant local generation in mid-country, huge
reactive power demand (MVARs) would not be
advisable to be supplied from power plants in the far
north & far south.
 Excessive VARs will cause severe voltage drop across
long heavily loaded lines
 Sufficient VAR supply sources in terms of capacitor
banks at transmission level will be required.
 Other dynamic FACTS devices SVC’s, SVS will also be
required to be installed in Mid-country substations at
appropriate locations.
 NTDC Network Characteristics (Cont.)
 In High water season power flow mainly from hydro plants in
North HVAC lines from South will be lightly loaded because
of low dispatch of thermal plants in South and vice versa.
 Lightly loaded HVAC lines generate excessive leading VARs
due to high charging current and would require sufficient
amount of shunt reactors.
 Hence both inductive & capacitive compensations levels
have to be provided based on seasonal effect.
HVDC Transmission Proposed by NPSEP from 2017 to 2020
Part of HVDC 2030 Transmission Expansion as
per NPSEP
HVDC MATIARI LAHORE PROJECT
Sr. No. Item Description

1. Design Power Flow Capacity 4000 MW

2. Converter Stations 1 each at Lahore and Matiari
3. Transmission Line Bipole, 886 km
4. Number of Towers 1970 approx.
5. Voltage Level ±660 KV
6. Current Carrying Capacity 3030 A
7. Project Agreements Signing 14 May 2018 at PM House
8. Financial Close Before 1st December 2018
9. Construction Start December 2018
10 Scheduled COD 1st March 2021
11. Tariff 0.74 PKR/kwh
12. Term 25 years (BOOT)
NTDC Responsibilities
Sr. No Item Description Requirement/Status
2 No. Converter Stations Lahore: 187 Acres
Matiari: 185 Acres

1. Land Acquisition 2 No. Grounding Electrodes 110 Acres each at Lahore and Matiari
3 No. Repeater Stations 1 Acre each
Central Warehouse Approx. 1 Acre
2. RoW for T/L 886 km 413.8 km cleared
3. Land Route for 5 km each approx. Route finalized.
Drainages
4. NOCs 13 8 obtained
5. Design Review OE: M/s. Hatch, M/s. Barqaab C/S and T/L Preliminary Designs approved;
Foundation Design under process
6. FATs/Testing NTDC and OE 3 Tower Types done, 3 Remaining
7. Stability Studies Base Cases for Studies 90% done
A Typical Converter Station Layout
Lahore to Bahawalnagar Line Route showing Cities

19
Bahawalnagar to Khanpur

20
Khanpur to Sukkur

21
Sukkur to Matiari

Khanpur to Sukkur

22
Security Control System (SCS)
For the outage of both Poles (i.e., HVDC link is down either due to converter station or due to
transmission lines).
The whole power has to flow through HVAC network which is stability constrained to a limit of 3,200
MW.
As of March 2021 the line flows are expected to be 4,227 MW from South towards Mid-Country.
In case of both poles out age(either due to converter or due to transmission lines), 4,000 MW will
transfer on the HVAC network.
Whereas its stable transfer limit is 3,200 MW, Hence 4,227 – 3,200 = 1,027 MW need to be cross-
tripped from South side, simultaneously with Bipole outage.
 continued

Security Control System (SCS)

Similarly in the north under frequency load shedding relays will operate to stabilize the frequency to
normal.

Such Controllers shall be installed in the converter & power stations by PMLTC.

PSP NTDC is in the process of study, to enhance the HVAC network capacity by using FACTS devices
(like Series Compensation).
HVDC Cross Border Projects Conceived
 Cross Border Proposed HVDC Links
 The import of 1,000 MW from Zahidan, Iran to Quetta

Pakistan via ± 500 kV HVDC bipole. 95 Km in Iran and 585 km in

Pakistan.
 The import of 1,000 MW from Tajikstan via Kabul,
Afghanistan to Peshawar, Pakistan via ±500 kV HVDC
3-Terminal Pole.
Recently, it is decided that power shall not tap to Afghanistan
and all 1,300 MW will drop to Pakistan (Nowshera), however this
will be restricted to summer months (April to September)
Quetta – Gawadar Ring with ±500 kV HVDC from Iran
 CASA Project
+500 kV HVDC T/L from Tajikistan to Pakistan
via Afghanistan (750 km)
300 MW HVDC substation at Kabul in Afghanistan.
1300 MW HVDC convertor station at Tajikistan
1300 MW HVDC convertor station at Peshawar

Note: Recently it is proposed that it will not be tapped

at Kabul so all 1300 MW shall drop in Nowshera.
 TUTAP
TUTAP proposal is an idea floated by USAID for interconnection between all these
countries: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan. The proposal was picked
up by ADB under CAREC.
Advantages of HVDC System
General Features of HVDC
Manually Regulated Power (i.e., controllability)

Total Thermal Capacity Utilization

No transfer of stability issues

 Voltage Stability
 Phase Angle Stability
 Requirement of PSS and its tuning for damping small signal oscillations
Bulk Power over long Distances
Advantages of HVDC Transmission
 Inherent Problems
 Generation of harmonics (Filters
are used on the AC side and
smoothing reactors on DC side)
 Expensive Converters
 Difficulty of voltage
transformation
 Voltage transformation
can only be done through
rotating machines
(Associated with HVDC)
 Reactive power requirement
(Convertors require much
reactive power, both in
rectification as well as in
inversion).
 Difficulty of circuit breaking
(Due to the absence of a
natural current zero with
d.c., circuit breaking is
difficult).
Inherent Problems (Associated with HVDC)

 Difficulty of high power generation

(Due to the problems of
commutation with d.c. machines,
voltage, speed and size are limited)

 Absence of overload capacity

(Convertors have very little
overload capacity unlike
transformers)
 Fault Current
 Fault current is not an issue

 There are no circuit breakers

 Thyristor valves when not conducting act as open circuit

 Fault is cleared by control signals act as Auto reclosers and after

two to three attempts it finally trips the pole (Permanent fault).
Cost Comparison HVAC vs HVDC
 Necessity of DC Connection
(Losses & Cost)

For a given transmission

task, feasibility studies are
carried out before the final
decision on
implementation as AC or
DC.

 Long AC lines cost of

intermediate reactive
power compensation
has to be taken into
account.
 Power Density
(Lines needed for transmitting 4,000 MW)
 Operation at Reduced Voltage to avoid effect of Pollution
 Pollution level can be governing on insulator selection rather than
switching surge withstand.
 In case of AC interconnected system, it is not possible to operate
the line / substation at other than nominal voltage
 However in case of DC (for a point to point transmission) it is
possible and preferable to operate at reduced voltage and have
some transmission capacity, even if it is at reduced voltage level,
to avoid pollution related flashovers.
 Typically DC systems are designed to enable operation upto 70%
to 80% voltage, under polluted conditions.
Traditional Applications of HVDC
Additional Applications of HVDC
Enhancement of AC Systems
Point to Point power transmission (dedicated Contractual Path)
Power Oscillation Damping on Parallel AC lines
Transient Stability Enhancement
Congestion Management of Parallel AC lines
Limiting of AC system disturbances between systems (Firewall against
cascading outages)

◦ Environmental Aspects

◦ Integration of renewable Power

Thanks